Several methods and systems are known in the art for transmitting and receiving at a high data rate using multiple lower data rate modems. For example, PCT Publication WO 2006/097735, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an apparatus and method for processing a high-data-rate signal. The apparatus comprises a plurality of data processing units and switching means to repeatedly switch a received high-data-rate signal between inputs of the plurality of data processing units on a time division basis. Each of the data processing units is operable to process the signal at a data rate lower than the high data rate, and the apparatus further comprises combining means operable to switch between outputs of the plurality of data processing units to form a processed high-data-rate signal. A receiver apparatus is also disclosed, operable to cooperate with the apparatus to receive a processed signal and to undo each of the processing steps performed by the apparatus to convert the processed signal into an original high first data rate signal.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,070, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes methods and apparatus for providing high-speed inter-computer data transmission using multiple low speed communication links. At the transmitting site, a high-speed data stream is split into multiple low-speed data streams and multiplexed onto low-speed links. The receiver demultiplexes, buffers and synchronizes the multiple low-speed data streams to recreate the high-speed data stream.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,059, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a low-cost data communication system using modems. In the proposed system and method, an incoming binary data stream is split into several parallel sub-streams by an encoding modem. The parallel sub-streams are mapped into a set of unique orthogonal short-codes and then modulated by a bank of modulators. Thereafter, the modulated data is combined and transmitted through a wired communication channel, such as a cable or optical fiber channel. A decoding modem can receive encoding information from the encoding modem and appropriately decode the transmitted information.